I know I'm not the greatest storyteller in the world, or even a good writer, but i thought i would share a few stories now and then of some of the good times in my tours overseas....so here is my first:
First time I got shot at....
I got to Tikrit, Iraq on March 7, 2004. I was the lowest ranking person (PFC at the time) to go on our companies first combat patrol through the city on March 8th. I served as the company commander’s gunner, while the other passengers in the vehicle were the key leaders doing what the army calls "a leader’s recon". That’s where they get to learn the routs and learn the way the city is laid out, if you will.
I was pretty excited to be able to go out on this first mission. I really didn't understand what my platoon SGT meant when he asked me if i wanted to go out for an IED sweep, I just gave him a big hell yeah, and grabbed my stuff. After I started gloating to my friends that I got picked to go on the mission, my buddies looked at me and said, "Dude, why are you so happy, you're just going out there to see if you can find IED's....you know, get blown up!" I started to reevaluate my joy, with a little nervousness, but none the less, i was still pretty excited and just told them that they were just jealous that they weren't going...
Everything went pretty smooth to begin with that night. We loaded up our "Gun Slick" (a gun truck with no doors or armor) and met up with the guys from 4th I.D. who were going to be showing us around. As we started driving, the 4th I.D. guys started telling us all about the places we were going, i.e. "here's where we got ambushed, that's where we took an IED, that's where we got fired at"...those kinds of things. As we came to the heart of Tikrit, the guy on the radio said, "Now this is where you need to pay attention. This is what we call RPG Alley." That's when my attention level went to high alert. It was a pretty cool feeling.
As we stopped at a location on the road in the dark, CPT Kurth said to keep a watch, they were going to set up an observation post to watch a known spot for planting IED's. After about 5 minutes of sitting there, i started to hear machine gun fire from the East (to my left). I got down a little bit, and started hearing rounds hit the ground a little up ahead of me. I thought to myself, holy crap, i'm getting shot at....this is kinda awesome. I couldn't see where the rounds were coming from and the SGT that was with me told me not too shoot unless i saw the muzzle flashes...after that the gun fire stopped...i couldn't tell exactly where the fire was coming from, and i really didn't want to shoot at the wrong house and kill some kid sleeping in his bed...i mean, put myself in their shoes, i'm a kid sleeping in my bed and some jackass, gets scared and starts shooting me cause some jackass next door is taking pop shots at him....you know? Anywho, I doubt whoever shot at us that night was even making an attempt to aim at us, just wanted to scare us a bit.
Anyway, after that, I remember my commander coming up to me after the shooting, and asking me if I was alright. I said "Yes sir, I’m fine, thank you." He looked up at me, and smiled. I’ll never forget what he said to me, he said, "Combat, Hartsburg! I love it, don’t you just love this shit!" I looked down at him, a little perplexed, and said, "Um....Yes sir, it’s just fine with me, i guess." In my mind though, I was thinking, he’s got to be out of his mind, we just got shot at! That was the first time in my life, I was shot at. A little scary, but very exciting. COMBAT, I LOVE THIS...UM...STUFF..... ;o)
First time I got shot at....
I got to Tikrit, Iraq on March 7, 2004. I was the lowest ranking person (PFC at the time) to go on our companies first combat patrol through the city on March 8th. I served as the company commander’s gunner, while the other passengers in the vehicle were the key leaders doing what the army calls "a leader’s recon". That’s where they get to learn the routs and learn the way the city is laid out, if you will.
I was pretty excited to be able to go out on this first mission. I really didn't understand what my platoon SGT meant when he asked me if i wanted to go out for an IED sweep, I just gave him a big hell yeah, and grabbed my stuff. After I started gloating to my friends that I got picked to go on the mission, my buddies looked at me and said, "Dude, why are you so happy, you're just going out there to see if you can find IED's....you know, get blown up!" I started to reevaluate my joy, with a little nervousness, but none the less, i was still pretty excited and just told them that they were just jealous that they weren't going...
Everything went pretty smooth to begin with that night. We loaded up our "Gun Slick" (a gun truck with no doors or armor) and met up with the guys from 4th I.D. who were going to be showing us around. As we started driving, the 4th I.D. guys started telling us all about the places we were going, i.e. "here's where we got ambushed, that's where we took an IED, that's where we got fired at"...those kinds of things. As we came to the heart of Tikrit, the guy on the radio said, "Now this is where you need to pay attention. This is what we call RPG Alley." That's when my attention level went to high alert. It was a pretty cool feeling.
As we stopped at a location on the road in the dark, CPT Kurth said to keep a watch, they were going to set up an observation post to watch a known spot for planting IED's. After about 5 minutes of sitting there, i started to hear machine gun fire from the East (to my left). I got down a little bit, and started hearing rounds hit the ground a little up ahead of me. I thought to myself, holy crap, i'm getting shot at....this is kinda awesome. I couldn't see where the rounds were coming from and the SGT that was with me told me not too shoot unless i saw the muzzle flashes...after that the gun fire stopped...i couldn't tell exactly where the fire was coming from, and i really didn't want to shoot at the wrong house and kill some kid sleeping in his bed...i mean, put myself in their shoes, i'm a kid sleeping in my bed and some jackass, gets scared and starts shooting me cause some jackass next door is taking pop shots at him....you know? Anywho, I doubt whoever shot at us that night was even making an attempt to aim at us, just wanted to scare us a bit.
Anyway, after that, I remember my commander coming up to me after the shooting, and asking me if I was alright. I said "Yes sir, I’m fine, thank you." He looked up at me, and smiled. I’ll never forget what he said to me, he said, "Combat, Hartsburg! I love it, don’t you just love this shit!" I looked down at him, a little perplexed, and said, "Um....Yes sir, it’s just fine with me, i guess." In my mind though, I was thinking, he’s got to be out of his mind, we just got shot at! That was the first time in my life, I was shot at. A little scary, but very exciting. COMBAT, I LOVE THIS...UM...STUFF..... ;o)
3 comments:
Wow! I can't imagine. Maybe you should do the same type of story from the viewpoint of a deer. You know, with bullets flying all around her, but none of them making contact! Haha! Just messin w/ya!
HA! Now, if i had my 240B Machine gun, instead of your weak little bolt action rifle with a scope (that i've never had to use before!), that deer would of been falling dead quicker then the people falling asleep during your sermons at church...
When's part deuce?
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